A Brief Encounter
by Salomedancing
Summary: When Romana leaves E-space she looks for the Doctor, but is found by another Time Lord instead.


**Warnings: Mind games.**

Romana carefully put K9 down on the ground and patted his head before she sat down herself on a convenient rock. It had been taxing, to say the least, to leave E-space, and she hadn't quite expected to end up on this nice but uninhabited planet. With K9's help she had constructed a signal, honed to come through to the Doctor wherever he was. The problem was that to make it work she had had to rob K9 of a number of important parts, rendering him both motionless and voiceless. She knew she could easily fix him with the right equipment, or better yet, let the Doctor do it, both he and K9 would enjoy that. Right now, however, it made waiting rather boring without someone to talk with.

After having spent so many years in another universe, Romana looked forward to see the Doctor again. She had learned so much since they had parted ways and he would enjoy hearing about her adventures and she wanted to hear his. Was he still president of Gallifrey? Somehow she doubted that, he would spend as little time as possible on their home planet, but she was quite homesick. Once she had thought she would never want to go back, but now she felt she was ready to return. Gallifrey needed to change, the stiff and unyielding views of the Time Lords needed to be shaken a little. They certainly had the Doctor who constantly annoyed them into new ways of thinking, but Romana rather thought they could need someone in the house too. Someone like her. She was sure she could frustrate the old codgers almost as well as the Doctor if she tried to.

The Doctor, who had scoffed at what he saw as her vanity regeneration, had never known she had had no choice in the matter. It wasn't affectations which had driven her into a new body, but the Doctor himself. Travelling with him had changed her so much and so quickly, making her adapt and re-think what she had always seen as absolute truths. Her old self had changed as much as she was capable of, but in the end she had been too set in her ways to be able to change as much as needed. If Romana wanted to continue to grow she had to regenerate into a new mind to be able to evolve further. It had been a very successful, her new self still felt comfortably able to make room for a lot of new ideas.

Romana sighed and patted K9's hard head again.

"He'll come soon, I'm sure."

And she didn't had to wait more than a few hours before the sound of a TARDIS could be heard and the telltale movement in the air told her where she would be able to see it soon. Romana picked up K9 and stood up with a happy smile. The TARDIS shimmered as it materialised and turned into huge three, identical to the trees nearby. Romana frowned, it felt very uncharacteristic for the Doctor to have fixed the chameleon circuit. Perhaps he had a new regeneration who might be more meticulous in such things. It was indeed a stranger who opened the door, a slim bearded man in black velvet who looked at her with a certain surprise in his pale blue eyes as he stepped outside. For a second she really thought it was the Doctor who had changed body, but she quickly realised that it wasn't him. This man was a Time Lord, though, but one she didn't know and there was something not as it should be, about him.

The stranger looked at her carefully and smiled, which utterly failed to look pleasant, for all the laughing lines that deepened around his eyes when he did so.

"Well, well, well, a tiny Time Lady and a robot dog." His voice was deep and amused. "That is not something you see every day. How adorable."

He walked around her in a deliberately slow circuit and Romana could feel his ironic stare burning into her back. Time Ladies, she reminded herself, did not squirm when strangers mocked them. His mind brushed against hers, but it fumbled against her thoughts ineffectively in a way that felt decidedly off. She had no problems closing off her minds against the bumbling touch. There really was something very wrong with him, even if she couldn't tell what it was.

"I am Romanadvoratrelundar. Who are you?"

He finished his circle and came back to face her. "I am known as the Master. I can see you know who I am."

"Yes."

"And here you are, all alone and calling for the Doctor. How lucky for me I picked up on your signal before he did."

Romana didn't agree, but didn't bother to contradict him. He must know perfectly well that if she wanted the Doctor, getting the Master could only be considered bad news.

He gestured toward the TARDIS. "Come on then. I rather leave before the Doctor shows up, I can do without his interference."

Romana draw herself up as tall as she could and said with all the dignity one can muster with a tin dog in your arms. "Thank you, but I think I will stay here, if you don't mind."

"But I do mind, my dear."

Romana eyed him warily. He seemed unarmed and if she let go of K9 she was quite sure she would prove be more nimble and able to escape him. But then she would leave her dog to the Master's mercy. She fervently wished it had been possible to keep K9's laser beam in functional order. On the other hand, the Doctor was bound to notice her distress signal and she would only have to keep herself out of the Master's way until then.

She dithered over her options, not really afraid when her mind was filled with his will, suddenly and completely unexpected. She had time to realise she had been lulled into a false sense of security before the force of his mind rammed into hers and made her walk into his TARDIS, unable to resist him. There he released her so abruptly she almost fell and dropped K9 who emitted a high pitched whine when he hit the floor. Regaining her balance Romana whipped around to asses her flight options, but the door was already closed and the Master was working the console controls. For a moment she considered trying to meddle with the controls but before it could evolve into a complete plan, the Master spoke.

"Don't bother. Unlike, I assume, the dear Doctor, my TARDIS can only be controlled by me. I have found that to be a very prudent course of action."

He pushed a few more buttons before he turned to her again. "I want to know a few things. Like how come you were calling for the Doctor. You know him presumably. And I must confess to be quite curious how a shielded young thing like you come turn up in an obscure corner of the galaxy like this."

"I have nothing to tell you."

Her answer made him laugh. "As I see it you don't have any choice."

There had been a little time to prepare, this time she has some defences ready for him. But he was old as old as the Doctor and strong and with a much greater interest than him in manipulating the minds of others. The Master's mind filled hers again, flooding it with malicious glee as her memories and feelings were laid bare for him to take his pick from. She could feel his thoughts rake through hers like greedy and careless fingers, not caring if they left bruises or not.

Then he withdrew and for a moment she thought it was over, but then he spoke inside her head. "Delightful. Please, let me give you something back."

Instead of taking from her, the Master's own feelings invaded hers. Romana gasped as the mind of a kind and wise man died in terror inside hers and she could only feel cold elation of what she had done to him. She saw the grief on the lovely face of a young girl, Nyssa, whom she had once loved but now only felt contempt for. And there was the Doctor and a raging flood of feelings streamed through her, longing, hate, love and fear and then, as the Doctor fell to his death by her hands, triumph and an unexpected grief.

The last thing she saw before the Master withdrew from her consciousness was the Doctor's new form, fair and confused and then she was herself again. She felt a desperate need to purge the memory of the Master's feelings from her mind and unable to resist the impulse she tried to claw at her eyes with her sharp finger nails. The Master stopped her, his leather clad fingers closing around her wrists and held her still as she calmed down.

"You brought this upon yourself, you know. If you had submitted to me, the experience would not have been so painful. Indeed, it could have been very pleasant. Believe me, personally I found it exceedingly satisfying."

Romana's head hurt, apart from the psychological chock, the physical reaction to have one's mind violated could be severe migraines lasting for days. She closed her eyes and willed away a wave of nausea. Somewhere K9 was still whining and when the Master let go of her she kneeled down beside her dog and assured him she was feeling just fine. Eventually he quieted, and she stood up again, giving the Master a glare. He smiled his joyless smile again and bowed slightly.

"I apologise for my intrusion. I admit, at times I can be impatient, but let me make it up to you. Why don't you travel with me for a while, Romanadvoratrelundar? I think it could be to our mutual benefit. I can show you a universe the Doctor never would. And I could call you Fred if you want me to."

"I will never go with you willingly."

The Master just shrugged and went to work with the console again. Romana could feel the TARDIS moving again, time shifted and compressed briefly as they materialised in a new place. He opened the door and sweet scented air filled the console room and outside Romana could see green lawns spreading away in gentle slopes, interspaced with white roads. It looked like a pleasant and civilized place.

"If you walk south for a few miles you will find a city with regular contact with Gallifrey. I am sure you can find your way home easily."

Romana regarded him with suspicion. "You are letting me go? Just like that?"

"Just like that. You are hardly more than a child after all, and I find I can't quite make myself kill the children of my own kin. A character flaw I am sure I can remedy eventually. To keep you here against your will would undoubtedly be more work than it is worth and I have already got what I wanted from you. You pose no threat to me, so it suits me to be magnanimous. I suggest you take your toy and leave before I change my mind."

She gathered up K9 again. As she passed the Master she turned to him. "Next time we meet I won't be such an easy prey."

He bowed again. "Next time, my dear, you may have become an enemy worth killing."

Romana walked away without looking back and not even after the Master's TARDIS was gone did she run.


End file.
